On Israel, Biden Blames Hamas. Republicans Blame Biden*

By Reed Galen

Hamas’ invasion of Israel over the weekend, the killing, rape, and kidnapping of civilians is a reminder that evil will burn its own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes. There is no justification for Hamas’ actions, and they knew what would happen to innocent Palestinians in the wake of their terror. They did it anyway. Because for Hamas, and their allies Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and others, the human toll is a price worth paying.

The butchery we’ve seen in Ukraine, and now in Israel, is indicative of a well-resourced and relentless authoritarian movement, that has already washed up on American shores. Donald Trump’s term as president should have been a wake-up call for all of us: He was (and is) happy to consort with autocrats because, he like them, sees the entire world as a zero-sum game. If helping America’s traditional adversaries overseas harms his domestic opponents, that’s good enough for him.

The terror in Israel also exposes fundamental internal contradictions in the Republican Party. For useful idiots such as JD Vance and Ron DeSantis, Ukraine is a ‘territorial dispute’ far from our borders. In the next breath, those same nimrods scream that we must protect and defend Israel, the Middle East’s only democracy, at all costs. Isn’t Israel a country on the other side of the world?

Every year, Republican candidates and leaders dutifully make the trip to the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference. They decry Democrats, Islamic terror, and the enormous benefit Americans received in moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. At the same time, the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene are comparing Covid vaccinations to the Holocaust, and the ‘peaceful demonstration’ at the US Capitol on January 6th featured a man named Keith Packer in a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt.

Last December, when Trump hosted notorious “groyper”Nick Fuentes and Kanye West at his (overvalued) Mar-A-Lago resort, he claimed to have no knowledge of either man’s malignant comments about Jews and women. Did Republicans decry Trump’s mainstreaming of two odious characters? No. Most said nothing at all. Others said that characters like Fuentes have no place in the party (without mentioning Trump’s invitation.) The last group said that we should not judge people merely for meeting people with whom we disagree. As if Kanye or Fuentes reside anywhere on the ‘normal disagreement’ spectrum.

We have learned since Hamas’ attack, that the group’s leadership was in Moscow earlier this year, meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. We know why they made the trip: Ukraine is handing Putin’s ass to him, and Vlad wanted to throw another grenade in America’s direction. Here at home, Republican leaders today, from Donald Trump, to Steve Bannon and Matt Gaetz regularly and happily carry Vladimir Putin’s water.

During the Cold War, Republicans claimed the mantle of being the strongest opponents of the Soviet Union, its totalitarianism, and its dysfunctional economic system. President Ronald Reagan called the Soviets the “Evil Empire” and famously told Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” The GOP of Eisenhower, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush is dead, replaced by a pro-Kremlin husk. Those of us who grew up watching Red Dawn, thrilled at the teenage Wolverines taking on the Commies.

Did Republicans blame Hamas for their butchery? No. They blamed Joe Biden, calling him complicit with Iran. Out of whole cloth, they announced that Hamas’ actions were financed by US taxpayers. Even Fox News has consistently and continuously said this isn’t true. The likes of Tim Scott (R-Not Going to be President) implicating Biden in the horror perpetrated this weekend does Iran and Russia’s bidding for them.

They want need a weakened Biden. They need a weakened America. MAGA and its fellow travelers are happy to oblige. The United States standing tall as a beacon for freedom, democracy, and decency is anathema to their worldview.

The regimes that colluded with Hamas have much in common. They are controlled by strongmen. They place religion at the middle of culture and power, using the Almighty as the handmaiden of repression. Freedom of speech, assembly, and the press are non-existent. Women and minorities are covered or pushed out of public life. Any public protest to the regime is quickly and brutally ground down. Violence, or the threat of violence, is the preferred tool to keep their citizens in line.

Who does that sound like?

When you hear and see Republican leaders blaming Joe Biden for Hamas’ actions, remember that for MAGA, all is projection. What the Israelis and Ukrainians are fighting in their homelands is the same type of regime Donald Trump and his acolytes will impose on America should they return to power.

If we know they’ve already been willing to plan and perpetrate an attempted coup at the direction of Donald Trump, why would we believe they won’t go further? If the sitting President of the United States was willing to watch his Vice President hang, why do we believe he’ll be better next time? If he says he’d executed his top military advisor, why do we believe he wouldn’t do it if he could?

In Israel, like Ukraine, we should see the dystopian reflection of our own future if we don’t take the threat before us seriously. They will not stop. They will never stop. Unless we, decent, patriotic, freedom-loving Americans stand athwart history and say, “No!”